Special Coverage

Hawthorne: Illinois Derby on WGN

WGN-TV in Chicago will broadcast the Illinois Derby on April 7, the station and Hawthorne Race Course announced Tuesday.

The one-hour broadcast will air from 5-6 p.m. Central. The broadcast will not be part of the WGN national feed and will be available only in the Chicago area.

WGN has previously televised the Arlington Million, but this will be its first broadcast of the Illinois Derby, by far the most important race of Hawthorne’s winter-spring meeting. The purse for the Illinois Derby has been boosted back up to $500,000 this year after being cut to $300,000 in 2011.